This was considered a must-win game, as the schedule is about to get much more difficult. The Buckeyes are 3-1 in the month of February, but all of those games were against teams near the bottom of the Big Ten standings. Five games remain against teams currently ranked in the Top 25. The other two are winnable against Northwestern.

“All losses hurt, but this one we needed to have and for us not to be prepared that’s on me and us older guys,” said Andre Wesson, who finished the night with 10 points. “We’re .500, we’re still trying to make the NCAA Tournament, we’re not a lock. Any game we play we have to have right now.”

The Buckeyes were subpar in every facet on Thursday night. They turned the ball over 18 times and made just 17 shots. But despite their shortcomings the Buckeyes led 45-44 with 8:30 to play after Duane Washington Jr. converted a three-point play.

Despite Washington’s momentum play, Illinois would retake the lead for good on the following possession. Ohio State continued to hang around, but could never get enough defensive stops. Illinois made some clutch shots down the stretch, but Ohio State also showed its inability to guard individually.

“Give them credit for the win and making those plays late offensively, (but) I just didn’t like that we had a couple breakdowns," Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "Ayo (Dosunmu) hitting those shots that’s one thing, but we had a couple breakdowns in our ball-screen defense and a couple critical fouls.

“That’s been a bit of an issue for us. We just have to coach it better and we have to get better. We know people are going to attack Kaleb (Wesson) in ball-screen situations in the middle of the floor -- that’s happened since he’s been here. We just have to continue to get better at it.”

For a team that at one point was on a five-game losing streak and already at the lower end in terms of NCAA Tournament seeding for major-conference teams, losing to a Quadrant Three team -- which Illinois is -- in mid-February does not help its cause.

The Buckeyes sit at 16-8 on the season and 6-7 in Big Ten play. Holtmann is aware that the Buckeyes could be on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday, but he’s focused on his team’s development. If the Big Ten Tournament started today, the Buckeyes would open up as the seventh seed and would face No. 10 Rutgers.

“A lot of teams would like to be in the bubble picture, including the one we played tonight,” Holtmann said. “So I think for us the focus is not on (the) bubble or anything like that; our focus is on getting better and improving and growing. That’s our focus as coaches.”

Andre Wesson echoed that sentiment, but admitted the postseason is still something to think about. Especially after losing a must-win home game.

“Obviously you pay attention to it a little bit -- that’s the end goal -- but we’re still trying to look game-by-game,” Wesson said. “But everybody looks at that.”